MULTIPLE PUBLIC BENEFITS

Replace Percentage of Automobile Demand
Transit currently attracts only 2% to 3% of trips. The cost of owning a car runs from $500 to $1000 per month. AGT will allow people to live car free within a 2 block walk of stations for 1/5 the cost of car ownership and still get unlimited ridership around town. This will appeal to the elderly, students, military, travelers, poor, commuters and the 20% that don't drive. Combined with the car free lifestyle and new  pedestrian oriented urban development, an even larger customer base is attainable, especially if insurance, parking or congestion costs soar. 

Reduce Foreign Oil Dependence
The City's  physical and economic infrastructure are so highly car dependent that the US is pathologically addicted to oil. "The U.S. transportation system emits more CO2 than any other  nation's total economy, except that of China, and presently accounts  for seven of ten barrels of oil this nation consumes". Today we import 55% of our oil and it is estimated to rise to 68% by 2020. Town planners  molded cities with the private passenger car into vast urban sprawls which are so widely spread that it is now almost impossible to service them economically with public transport. Motor vehicles are responsible for  nearly two-thirds of US oil use. It is estimated that the total amount of oil that can be pumped out of the earth is about 2,000 billion barrels and that world oil production will peak in the next 10 to 15 years. Electrified transit can replace 10% of drivers.





Introduce Hydrogen Economy
The volume of a national marketplace is needed to attract the industrial capital and expertise for production fuel cell development that will bring down the cost and make America less dependant on foreign oil. But individual car fuel cells are only a portion of the growth opportunity. An even larger opportunity may be the fixed installations that can power the guideways, stations, plazas, parking lights and even some private developments.

 





Reduce Pollution
People living without car ownership and taking cars off the highways is only one way to reduce pollution. Other ways are for 3 to6 passengers to share one car or to add car fee zones around station developments. Indirectly new urban development will replace older more inefficient heating and power systems. And new land use patterns can reduce the reduce the need to move about for every little thing. Stations can be small villages that offer more of the basic services without needing to use a car.

 






Investment Multiplier 
Transportation technologies have always led (caused) real estate land uses from villages, towns, cities, suburbs to metropolises. Investment back east around light rail stations are running up to ten dollars to every transit dollar invested. Even at one half that rate, a trillion dollar national network would cause an urban real estate boom in condos, retail, offices, parking and entertainment industries measured in the trillions

 








New Tax Base
Transit causes an real estate investment multiplier effect of 3 to5 times around the stations. As driving costs and conditions worsen,  millions of people will be attracted to living without a car and within walking distance of stations. The trillions invested in new urban real estate would generate billions in many states for new property taxes, income taxes and sales taxes especially in the travel industries. The job creation of such a societal investment would be in the millions too.







 

Link Airports, Metro Areas, Highways and Rail
AGT could be the unifying element that ties together all these different sources of travelers into a web like the internet. There are 600 controlled airports in America that could be linked into a national automated travelers web using AGT to connect  metro areas, highways and rail traffic with airports.. AGT will serve as the bridge passing pedestrian traffic to and from each system. 

Reduce Highway Congestion
The highways system of America can not grow fast enough to accommodate the demand for travel in our society. Mobility is going at twice the rate of population. Rail is only attracting 2% to 3% of the population. There is no better alternative today than to grow an AGT network to hwy congestion. Within the next ten years congestion may need to accommodate more than 1/3 as many new drivers on our highways. AGT can handle  a big share of this load and thru profits could grow a trillion dollar industry that attracts up to 10% of the population as  riders.

Reduce Airport Gridlock
Security concerns have recently shown the vulnerability of the airport network in America to gridlock. Weather has always been a dicey impediment to the airport network and crowds especially at peak times tend to gridlock. AGT connections between airports would allow for alternative distribution of passengers thru the airports that are open. Regional AGT coverage around airports would be a collection distributor system for airports giving them steady business. The combination of AGT with airports could produce a  national security system to ID and to voluntary track the traveling public.

Stimulate the Travel Industry 
Travel is already the worlds largest industry. It is growing fast because it serves the human need for changing experiences. Travelers are welcome everywhere because travel is considered a clean industry that leaves behind dollars without increasing the population and having to provide government services. Instead the travelers is served by the private sector and is a big generator of jobs. Access is the lifeblood of the travel industry be it auto, bus, rail or airplane. AGT will generate pedestrian traffic in large numbers right to the door of the travel industry. Resorts ,attractions, recreation, education, conferencing, sporting events, military, business meetings, and holidays will all take on increased activity through AGT networks

 

 

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